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Originally Posted by Englegast
Northern Ireland is going to be a difficult issue to solve.
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That's an understatement
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I have only recently been researching Irish history, since finding out I have ancestors from there,
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Where were they from?
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the only resolution I can see is an independent Ulster.
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That is what is advocated by some of the Loyalists, disillusioned with Britain & Unionism.
That won't work though, I'm afraid.
For a start, the majority of people in Ulster want to be part of a 32 county Republic. The confusion arises here is because the Unionists refer to the six county statelet as "Ulster". This is incorrect. What they are actually reffering to is "Northern Ireland". The two are not the same thing. Ulster is a historic province which consists of nine counties. Six of them are British controlled (Northern Ireland) and three have been part of the Republic since day one. The fact is that you have around 40% of N.I. being Nationalists, when you add the overwhelming Nationalist majority in the Ulster counties om the ROI then there is a clear majority in favour of unification. That is in fact the reason why the border was drawn round only six of the nine counties in th first place, to guarantee what they thought would be a permanent Unionist majority.
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Perhaps with a slow integration into the republic.
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I think that is what will happen. I think that is what is happeneing at the moment.
The demographics are telling. The nationalist population is outstripping the unionist population in N.I. Their permanent inbuilt majority turns out not to be so permanent as they had thought. The way things are going they will not be able to claim that N.I is part of the UK based on a democratic right.
Some Unionists have advocated "Re-Partition". That is give Derry, Tyrone & Fermanagh to the Republic (all three now have Nationalist majorities) and make N.I. comprise of the three that still have a Unionist majority (Antrim, Armagh, Down). But really, this is only delaying the inevitable. What happens 50 years on when those last three have nationalist majorites as well?
I think Dublin & London are basically preparing the way for N.I. to be intergrated with the rest of Ireland. I cannot see the IRA disbanding for anything less, to be honest